A procrastinating book club finally finished reading the group’s first tome — after nearly 30 years.
The bookworms chose James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake” as their first selection.
The classic is notoriously difficult to read due to its experimental style of language.
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The novel has the reputation as being one of the most difficult works of fiction to read in all of Western literature.
In a description of its book “A Guide Through Finnegans Wake” by Joyce scholar Edmund Lloyd Epstein, the University of Florida Press said, “Written in a complex, pun-based idiogloss and boasting a dreamlike narrative that defies conventions of plot and continuity, James Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ has been challenging readers since its first publication in 1939.”
It went on, “The novel is so famously difficult that it is widely agreed that only the brave or foolhardy attempt to unravel this well-known but relatively little-read classic. Most tackle the text in reading groups, which provide mutual assistance (and moral support) in understanding Joyce’s modern masterpiece.”
Pictured is a copy of “Finnegans Wake” by James Joyce — a book that a “procrastinating book club” finally finished reading after 28 years. (Jam Press)
Joyce, the famed Irish writer also known for “Ulysses,” the short-story collection “Dubliners” and the novel “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” wrote “Finnegans Wake” over a period of 17 years.
The novel was Joyce’s final work.
The procrastination book group, based in California, started reading “Finnegans Wake” in 1995.
The procrastination book group, based in California, started reading “Finnegans Wake” in 1995. They finally finished it this week. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
They would read a page of it — then discuss it for two hours, according to Jam Press and The Seattle Times.
The monthly meetings would take place at the Venice branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the group continued to have Zoom calls to discuss the book.
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Members of the Marshall McLuhan “Finnegans Wake” Reading Club finished the final page this week, on Oct. 3, 2023.
A book group started reading “Finnegans Wake” back in 1995. They would read a page of the book before discussing it for two hours. The weekly meetings took place at the Venice branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. (Jam Press)
Book group organizer Gerry Fialka said the group will start the book from the beginning next week.
The book ends mid-sentence on page 628 — and circles back to the first page.
Said Fialka, a filmmaker, to The Seattle Times, “I don’t know if I tried to foresee anything. I guess I don’t think, ‘This is going to last long.’ I just do it.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the book club’s organizer for further comment.
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